Jewelry tray



C. E. CHAPMAN.

JEWELRY TRAY.

APPLICATION FILED AUGL26-1921.

1,425,31 '7. n dAug. s, 1922.

i01 lha amm (C/zazalasE W vzzaiamg CHARLES E. CHAPMAN, Of CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

JEWELRY TRAY. I

Specification of Letters Patent, dP tt d A 3, 1922 Application filed August 26, 1921. Serial No. 495,578,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. CHAP- MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Jewelry Trays, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to automatically locking jewelry trays, and more particularly to that type of tray wherein jewelry is adapted to be carried, either upon cards or loosely; being an im rovement over my co- I pending application berial No. 400,165, filed July 30, 1920.

While my invention relates to trays for carrying jewelry and the, like, I do not intend to limit myself to such use solely, as it is apparent that by slight variations in structure, the tray may be used for displaying objects of similar or even of dissimilar character.

In my prior application, I have fully set out the utility of this type of tray and particularly the marked advantage it secures over the prior art method of handling jewelry. The trays provided heretofore carry the jewelry so that it protrudes from the top edge thereof, with no means pro vided for lowering the articles of display within the tray when it is desired to remove the jewelry to the. vault at nightthisbeing customary in the practice of the jeweler. Consequently, the jewelry has to be removed, piece by piece, from the tray and placed in the vault at night, the task of replacing the same in the morning being thereby caused. The preferred manner of caring for jewelry at night is to remove the trays from the showcases and windows, and to stack them in the vault. But, as vaults have a limited capacity, a practical difficulty of stacking away all the trays, Without waste of space caused by protruding articles in the trays,

presented itself. 1

The object of the present invention is the provision of an improved form of tray, which overcomes this difficulty, and which allows the removal; and replacement of the jewelry at night and in the morning, re-' 7 spectively, in the shortest time possible.

Adjustable shelves are provided on which the jewelry is hung, and are'adapted to have a pivotal movement to permit various positions in order to not only bring the jewelry entirely within the tray, but to obtain'the proper angle thereof to securetthe proper light reflection, which is considered of high importance in the art of jewelry display.

This invention is particularly directed to an improved form of latch mechanism for locking the shelves in the various'positions. The present form .of latch mechanism insures a positive action and easy operation, and is disposed so as to be conveniently accessible. tion as hereinbefore set forth will appear from the following detailed description and claims taken with an inspection of the accompanying drawings whereinl have illusmerely illustrative and the may be varied.

In the drawings:

details thereof Figure l is a top plan view of a jewelry 'tr.ay embodying my invention Figure 2 is a detailed fragmentary view, illustrating the latch mechanismat a larger scale; and

Figure 3 1s a top plan viewxof Figure 2,

Other advantages of my inventrated the preferred embodiment of my in- 7 vention. The particular tray shown is the lower end of the walls 2, and provide an open bottom for the tray, the purpose of which will hereinafter be mentioned. Either before or after the assembly of the tray, holes 4 are bored in the opposite faces of one pair'of sides. parallel alignment.

In assembling the tray, bearings 5 are tightly inserted in the holes 4, so that the inner ends of the bearings 5, which face each other oppositely, may receive the ends of the rods 6, in journaled relation. The rods (Scarry shelves 7,which may-be of any kind of material desired, although sheet metal better serves the purpose. The form of shelf shown herein is merely illustrative, showing" one of the many ways of suitably retaiiiing'a card 8, towhich is fastened some article of sale, such as jewelry. The shelf may be made out of one piece of metal, the stamping ofwhich might be performed in one operation. The lowerpo'rtion 9 during the stamping operation, or thereafter, is provided with'the spring retaining fingers 10, which serve to bear against the card 8 to hold the The holes 4 are in- 7. Any number of fingers 10 may :be..pro=- vided for a single card, although I have shown one finger: against the card, permitting a wedged engagement of the latter between the finger and back portion 11. That portion between the respective fingers 10 is referably retained, as s'hownat 12, in .or cer to; present a finished effect. The whole shelf "(1, or any part thereof, may be covered with fabricated material as desired. It is to be here noted that the entire lower ,portion .o'tthe shelf 7 may be formed in one piece, Til so desired. At theend of theshelf 7, a lug 13 is'provided, which is at r ght angles to theback To the lug 13'is rivetedthe tension member 14 .byvmeans of rivets'22.

The tension. "ember 14 serves as 'a common connecting member for all the shelves and also serves to control their various ositions, sothat when the member 14: is ocke'd at a certain adjustment along the ,sideflof :the tray, the shelves 7 will have a ;certain angular adjustment, being relative to the tray frame. It will'benoted that the i ot rods 6 have been pT iC {Parallel to .each other, and therefore, the shelves 7 will be parallel, each moving in a plane .paralleltothe others. This arrangement is ,only preferable, :but may be var ed, if so desired. The common connecting member le prefer ably never moves out of theside pl-anelof theqtraypwhich' is advantageous in that it eliminates all possibility of inter- "iering with stacking and causingthettray toiappear unornaniental. i

her isenlargedgasindicatediatl5, with the lower edge toothed. Directly below this is disposed a trippingmember '1'6 which is .pivotally mounted tothe inner side ofthe ledgeBf by means of 'fthe screw 17. The

ledge 3, at this pointfis groovedaway to permit the upperedge of the tripping membe1g 16't0 lie flush with the ledge '3, when ithe .former is disengaged from 'the toothed] portionl5 oi the member 14. At one end of. the tripping member-.16, :a lum'l? extends Ilaterallytowardthe tray, which ugengages j with the teeth of the memberll. It is to, be

noted thatl" have provided means forhold- .6 obtain the desired tilting. The opposite important -feature is that no portion of the the particular design'of the shelf itself.

One endotwthe common connectlng me1nframmshelves pivoted therein, a common connecting element pivotally connecting said shelves, a locking member pivotally disposed end of the tripping member is formed with a finger lug 20, which turns laterally out ward to be in a position for convenient engagement by a finger of the operator. An

tripping member 16 will project out of the tray at the bottom side. When the shelves 7 are adjusted in vertical position, the trip the thumb member. 20 will be just within the lower area of the tray; The magnitude of swing of the shelves 7 about their pivots may be controlled by the toothed portion 15 being either moved forward or backward otthelug-19 The tray frame is constructed so as to provide an open bottom in order to allow light to pass therethrough to add to the volume ofdightthrown upon the jewelrybeing displayed; and, if the light passes from the irontto-the rear, then toallowlight to pass therethrough to the lower portions of the show case or window to illuminate properly the articles there "ondisplay.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully explain the gist-of my inven- 'tion, that others may, 'by applying current knowledgeyr'eadily adaptthe same for use 9s gaging the common connecting member 14 in a ma nnerother' than that shown. l he shelves 7 and their pivotal connectionswith the member 14: may be varied, and so may Such details and many others may obviously be changed without eliminating. certain featur es which mayprop'erly besaid to constitutefthe essential items of novelty 3 involved in ny invention, which items are intended tobe defined and secured by the following 1. In 'combln'ation, a-tray comprising a within said frame, and means on the under side o'tsaid common connecting eleinentand on one of" the ends of said pivotal locking member which engageqeach other for effecting positive locking relation between said common connecting element and said j j loclzingmember. 55 ing the tripping member 16 slightly ralsed in this directiominorder that the member "2. In combination,a tray comprising a frame, shelvespivoted therein, a common connecting elem nt pivotally connecting said shelves, a portion ofthe under side of said common connecting element being provided with teeth, a i pivotally mounted "locking member disposed onjsaid'tray and adjacent to-said toothed, portiom and means'for holdingi said locking member in engagement with.

saidtoothed'. portion. 7 v

In combination, a tray comprising a.

frame, shelves pivoted therein, a common connecting element pivotally connecting said shelves, a portion of the under side of said common connecting element being provided with an engaging surface, a locking member pivotally mounted within the tray and ad jacent to said engaging surface, a spring connected to the tray, said spring engaging said locking member for normally holding it in engagement with said surface.

4;. In combination, a tray comprising a frame, shelves substantially of greater height than the frame pivoted therein, a common connecting element for said shelves lying parallel to the side of the tray, a latch member for engaging one end of said common connecting member whereby the shelves may be held in any angular position, and a portion on said latch member formed so that it may be engaged by the finger through the under side of said frame.

5. In combination a tray comprising a frame, shelf members pivoted in said frame, a common connecting link for all of said pivotal members, and pawl and ratchet means connecting the link and the frame to permit the shelves to be raised to any desired position and held there, the pawl being manually releasable to permit the shelves to be lowered, said pawl and ratchet means being disposed within the frame when the shelves are lowered.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 24th day of August, 1921.

CHARLES E. CHAPMAN. 

